View the work area

Acrobat opens in two different ways: on its own, as a standalone application, and in a web browser. The associated work areas differ in small but important ways.

The Acrobat work area includes a document pane that displays PDFs and a navigation pane on the left side that helps you browse through the current PDF. Toolbars near the top of the window provide other controls that you can use to work with PDFs.

Note: Opening certain types of PDFs causes specialized parts of the work area to appear: the document message bar and PDF package navigation features. For other types of PDFs, these areas are not seen and not available.

View the work area for PDFs open in the application

  1. Using the Acrobat icon on the desktop, Start menu (Windows), or Finder (Mac OS), start the Acrobat application.
  2. Choose File > Open, navigate to and select any PDF on your computer, and click Open.
    graphic
    Acrobat window


    A.
    Menu bar 
    B.
    Toolbars 
    C.
    Navigation pane (Bookmarks panel displayed) 
    D.
    Document pane

View the work area for PDFs open in a web browser

  1. Open a web browser application.
  2. Do one of the following:

    • Select a PDF anywhere on the Internet and open it.

    • Choose File > Open (or Open File). If necessary, choose PDF or All Files in the pop-up menu for the type of file. Then navigate to and select any PDF on your computer or local network, and click Open.

  3. Identify items in the work area.
    graphic
    PDF open within a web browser


    A.
    Web browser application menu bar and buttons 
    B.
    Acrobat toolbars 
    C.
    Navigation pane (Bookmarks panel displayed) 
    D.
    Document pane 
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